Salt of the Earth
by ateventide
Summary: This had to be a trick. A spell, something; anything.
1. Memories

AU: I don't know anything. I use to have an account in the dark days of FF. I haven't written anything in a very long time but made it a resolution to try to get back into it even if it's not very good. Grammar mistakes abound!I hope it's not too bad!

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Slamming his blade down, Archer barely noticed the other swords that still impaled his body. Mechanically, he trudged up the hill as his gaze swept across all the swords that surrounded him. A symbol of a never ending nightmare. A question that should have never been asked. A deal that should have never been made. In the end, it was his hope that ultimately killed him.

"...Didn't I tell you, the next we meet, we'd be enemies?"

Archer stilled. A voice. A familiar voice.

 _It wasn't possible_

Bright blue eyes and long black hair with twin pigtails stood before him. With a serious expression on her face and a hand on her hip.

"Oh, don't tell me you forgot?" She walked closer, eyeing him closely.

 _What..?_

Frowning, she reached out to place her hand on one of the swords still hanging from his chest. She smiled up at him as it disappeared into the air and then began to work on another one.

 _It shouldn't be possible_

Moving his hands to her shoulders, he remembered a name; close to his heart and filling it with endearment close to insanity. She looked the same. Her magic felt the same. Hell, he could swear she even smelled the same. This had to be a trick. A spell, something; anything.

 _Could it really be?_

"Rin. What is this? How are you here?" His question caught in this throat. He knew in life she was truly talented magus. A true genius but to be able to come here, he couldn't even begin to imagine the type of power it would take. If it was really her. She flashed him a brilliant smile, that even now he could feel a faint blush trying to make its way to his face. She always did go for his weak spots.

Her eyes were as beautiful as he remembered. She noticed him staring and winked as her magic wrapped around him. Blushing, he looked away, startled he realized they were no longer in this wasteland and Rin was no longer in his arms. They were somewhere different but still so achingly familiar.

The sun was setting outside the windows. Rin giggled softly. Soft rays glowed gently against her body as she slipped off the desk. Archer watched as Rin bent over to a younger version of himself. A time when he still called himself Emiya Shirou. Was he trapped in a spell? A nightmare?A time loop?

"So, will you come with me?"

Archer turned his head to look away. It wasn't so much that this was bad memory. It was just a moment in time. He couldn't explain why but somehow it twisted his heart. This wasn't real. It couldn't be real he kept telling himself.

When he glanced back, everything was different again. He was in an apartment. Small wooden dining table filled with food. Rin was holding a red mug, inhaling its scent. His younger self was at the stove cooking. This was the apartment they shared in London.

"...You don't have to do this, you know!" Rin protested.

Archer opened his mouth to try to break whatever magic was causing this. Whatever this was; it was enough. He did not need to relive all this. Whatever this was; he would end it. The world began to fade again as he wondered if somehow maybe he was finally dead and in Hell.

This time Rin was sitting alone in their apartment just staring out a window. She sighed softly.

"This was the moment that I knew what I wanted to do with my life. Yes, I always knew I'd go to the Clocktower and continue my father's legacy but...what my desire...my WISH…"

Rin turned her head to look at him.

"..was to dismantle the Holy Grail." She stood up, and walked over to him. Placing her hands against his armored chest. Archer stood wearily watching her.

 _Was he being punished?_

 _Had he not given enough?_

"Like so many things that shouldn't exist, Heroic spirits are just echoes. A shadow of someone already lost to time. They linger. Just a fragment of something that should have stayed dead." Rin looked up at him with tears in her eyes.

"Just like you"

 _This wasn't real._

"We both know life isn't meant to be like that. You live, you make mistakes and you move on. The past cannot be cured. So, let me ask you." Her lips were soft against his and before he could react, she had already pulled back.

"Archer, Why are you here?"

.. _.Don't be real_

 _...I don't want you to be._

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Not sure if this will be continued. The quote "The past cannot be cured" is by Elizabeth I


	2. The Price

Happy Belated Rin!- an update!

So i'm not really 100% about this chapter but to be honest- but I don't see it getting better. Notes and explanations at the end since it might get fuzzy.

Sorry for grammar mistakes!

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Opening his mouth, to protest as Rin knew the answer to that question. He had made a deal with the world and this was his price. Magic surged around them, as the memory washed away and they were back in his wasteland.

"Rin, tell me what is happening?" She pushed him away.

"I did it, you know. It took me a long time- 10 years but I did it. I dismantled the Grail- with some help" Rin admitted begrudgingly. "But I…." she trailed off.

For the life of him, Archer really didn't know what he was supposed to do. Rin or what he thought was her had just shown up without warning. Dragged him into a bunch of old somewhat painful memories and kissed him. He could already feel this oncoming migraine was going to last just short of a millennia.

"Is that what this is? Goodbye?" Archer finally asked.

She looked at him and then away. Ignoring his question, she asked "How many lives did you end up here?"

"I don't know. Choices were different in different lives" Rin sighed loudly as if annoyed.

"In the lives, you didn't. What changed?" She asked pointedly.

"A lot of things. Some events happened, sometimes they didn't." Archer frowned. "Rin, how did you get here?"

"Why wasn't it ever enough?" She gestured around them.

"You know it's not that simple. Some lives it was enough and some it wasn't but I always felt the pull to do more. It's why I made the deal." Rin threw up her hands in frustration and walked away from him. She glared at all the swords and daggers across the plain. "I know what I signed up for."

"BUT I DIDN'T!" She exploded at him.

Taking a calming breath, Archer tried again."Rin, I still don't understand!Just tell me-"

"UGH!" She interrupted. Rin looked up and eyed sunlight in the grey sky. "You know you should have killed me. If you really wanted to wipe out your past self that is. A step to the side, a miscalculated jump- how would I even know? " She turned and smiled " If I died, I'd never be there to save you that night and all this" she gestured out "would be all but a dream...but you'd never do that would you? Not to me." She scoffed lightly. "In a way, saving you was the biggest regret of my life.."

Stunned, Archer didn't know what to say. How could he even respond to that. Silently, he just stood there letting this hands clench and unclench in uncertainty. He blinked as Rin winced and grabbed her arm as if in pain.

"Rin?"

"Archer" She motioned for him to look down, where Kanshou and Bakuya were suddenly in his hands.

 _What?_

"I thought we had more time. I was hoping this could make you understand. You think your contract keeps you bound here but you don't get it do you? Everything is about choice. You've seen the miracles of the human spirit with your own eyes. You really think that once you made a deal- it can't be broken? Your fathers ideals, to Saber, to Sakura and even that pendant keep you here. You empower this exile- by thought and by choice. Again and Again. But maybe you enjoy this ongoing insanity of yours. Maybe you even think you deserve it. You shouldn't. We moved on. We let you go. But I can't do this- not anymore; this is where I get off."

" _What are you talking about_?"

Rin's blue eyes turned red." For what its worth, you should know, you couldn't have saved me" Sighing deeply "..I'm sorry and I forgive you."

 _Red?_

"What's happening to you?" Archer forced himself to look into her red eyes. Familiar and wrong in so many ways. He ran his hands up and down her arms. She was still warm under his hands. She was still the same. It was then he realized she was talking.

"...You really are an idiot, aren't you?"

Suddenly, Rin's hand painfully gripped his wrists. Her trademark red turtleneck and black skirt fading away to reveal a white and gold bodysuit. A black crown sitting atop her head. She titled her head almost thoughtfully- red eyes empty.

"..I warned this vessel. You would not give up this foolishness." Her voice made his blood run cold. The taste of the her magic abruptly ceased and instead it was replaced with ash and death.

"Rin?" he asked desperately. As if suddenly realizing she was holding onto him, she effortlessly tossed him several feet away. Rin held out her hands in front of her studying them. A giggle escaped her mouth as she rolled her shoulders slowly.

 _Red eyes_

"A reality marble? How utterly common" Her voice was the same but yet so very foreign at the same time. She moved farther away from him- arms outstretched as if to drink in the scene. "Mnn..My original self was more glamorous but this body is also not bad!"

This wasn't happening. Hadn't he given enough? Archer wanted to scream at the top of his lungs. It wasn't fair. It wasn't supposed to be Rin. Her eyes were wide and deep, as he always remembered but now the color of blood.

Archer needed to move. He yielded his body to move. To run. To attack. To do anything but lay there frozen. This wasn't real. This had to be a trick. A spell, something; anything.

"How is this possible?" He finally croaked out. Not even turning her head, "Rin" was basking in the sunset."TELL ME!". She continued to ignore him until finally he summoned a random sword to launch at her. Finally, she turned as she swatted it away. The rays of the sun glinted off her crown. Throwing a dangerous smile over her bare shoulder at Archer.

"You're too late, Counter Guardian. You seek to save what has rotted through."

Lunging, he concentrated to aim all the swords in his arsenal towards the two. Giggling softly, she tossed her hair and blinked out of his vision. He could feel the absence of her magic in the wasteland but still her words reached his ears.

""She wasted her last breath on you-how very pitiful".

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This ended semi differently than how I expected. So to those confused- basically this a goodbye/last request of Rin before Ishtar taking over. In this story, something like Ishtar would consume Rin completely. Body and soul. To be a vessel essentially means death. I'm not really satisfied- so I may edit it in the future but for now its done.

I also based this on a theory that a deal with the world that its all based on will and intent. You make a deal/contract(which are inherent breakable in nature)willingly; for whatever- power, love, immortality. Basically, what I'm saying is- you make a deal but you end up trapping yourself in servitude by choice. A self-imposed eternity. After so many years into a contract most would feel(like Archer) self loathing, hatred and guilt. That maybe you deserve this. Just a thought. I used Ruler and Saber as a basis of the power of transcendence- the power of will to override anything/everything. Especially in death. So in theory, if he wanted it enough- a selfish willingness to give up every little last part of himself that his will would transcend even a contract with the world(but maybe I've been re-watching too much Evangelion). The inspiration of his father to become a hero, Saber, the pendant, all tie to him to becoming a CG.


End file.
